Lesson One: Learning Objectives 3-5

3) Explain the developments in Europe and Africa that led up to Columbus's voyage to America:
            Columbus may be remembered for unknowingly discovering the America's, but credit should be given to a certain group of people who are often referred to as the vikings. They established a small colony at the time named "Vineland", but after a few years the Vikings dropped all plans for settlement and mysteriously abandoned any effort to colonize the Americas. Despite rumors of the Viking's voyage to the "New World", no European countries were willing, or even interested, in embarking in a similar journey. However, technological advances in navigation such as faster ships and the invention of the astrolabe renewed Europe's thirst in trade beyond their own continent. Merchants and traders such as Marco Polo opened routes to Asia and Islamic civilizations, but despite this new discovery, Italy dominated the routes to the foreign continents. European countries suddenly united together and their monarchs became envious of the wealth traders were earning with the spices and exotic products brought back from Asia and Islamic countries. Portugal began to look into alternate routes to these areas and after a few attempts,  Portugal began trade with the coast of Africa. By 1500, they had even discovered and claimed Brazil as their own territory. Spain's desire to begin trade in Asia began with Christopher Columbus who believed Asia could be located across the Atlantic Ocean. He had approached  his country Italy with the idea, but was immediately rejected and branded a lunatic for his ideas. The idea at the time was that the Earth was flat, and many believed that beyond the Atlantic Ocean, there was only an endless abyss. Columbus later approached Spain with the idea, conceding to the King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella's desire to compete against the empires France, England, and Portugal. In 1492, Columbus traveled with his ships across the Atlantic Ocean and within ten weeks, he had landed at the Bahamas, believing he had found Japan.

4) Explain the changes and conflicts that occurred when the diverse worlds of Europe, Africa, and the Americas collided after 1492:
             After 1492, Christopher Columbus returned to Spain with unknown foods such as coconuts and sweet corn. Despite these new discoveries, Columbus still believed that he had met and interacted with "dark-skinned Indians" and assumed he had sailed around the Indian Ocean. Spain and much of Europe assumed the same and hailed him as the man who opened a western route to Asia. Portugal suspected the truth, that Columbus had simply crossed islands that were located in the Atlantic Ocean. John II of Portugal issued a complaint to Pope Alexander II but they were both rejected in favor of Columbus's claim. Disputes between Spain and Portugal remained so until both countries signed and established the Treaty of Tordesillas which divided the land owned by the two empires. Columbus died under the idea that he had discovered a new route to Asia,  but German geographer, Martin Waldseemüller accepted the claim that Amerigo had reached the "New World" before Columbus and eventually named the vast land America. Portugal was also ahead of many European countries in the form of slave trade, in return for weapons and other various products, Africa traded slaves which aided the country in labor costs.As various European countries established claims on American soil, slavery was suddenly in demand. Many Native Americans died from diseases brought from Europe such as Small Pox and Influenza. To replace the dramatically decreasing number of native laborers, European settlers began to bring in African slaves to gather and cultivate crops. The trade of crops, slaves,and diseases is known as the Columbian Exchange, establishing what would be colonial America for hundreds of years.

5) Describe the Spanish conquest of Mexico and South America and identify the major features of Spanish colonization and expansion in North America:
                Spain was determined to go beyond the Eastern Coast of the Americas and repeatedly funded expeditions that what allow the country to get ahead in terms of the economic race major European countries competed in. Juan Ponce de Leon explored the coasts of Florida and Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean in the same exact year. Ferdinand Magellan's expedition sailed around the tip of South America, across the Pacific to the Philippines (a prominent territory of Spain as well) , to the Indian Ocean, and back to Europe around the southern tip of African  in a span of three years. But Spain got it's title as the wealthiest country in Europe during the Sixteenth Century when Hernando Cortes's small army reached and immediately conquered the Aztec Empire in 1519. Two years later, Francisco Pizzaro conquered the Inca Empire, gaining it's vast silver mines. Expeditions in the North American Southwest and southeast also increased Spain's dominance in the Americas. While the discovery of the Aztec and Inca empires was considered a fortunate event for Spain's economy, that was not the case for natives. While Europeans were under the notion that while the native civilizations found in America were amazing and exotic, they were considered barbaric and unholy as well. Spain felt that any pagan population must be westernized and taught the word of God, those who refused would be punished severely. The Native's beliefs and foreign culture  was enough for the European to justify the killing and destruction that occurred in the Americas. On top of that, the fact that most indigenous cultures were not immune to European diseases almost forced the native population to go from 20 million to a staggering 2 million.